VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2020 / EastWest Bioscience Inc. (EAST.V) ("EastWest" or the "Corporation") provides this bi-weekly default status report in accordance with National Policy 12-203 - Cease Trade Orders for Continuous Disclosure Defaults ("NP 12-203"). In its initial default announcement of November 29, 2019 (the "Default Notice"), the Corporation announced the delay in the filing of its audited annual financial statements for the year ended July 31, 2019 (the "2019 Annual Financial Statements") and related management discussion and analysis and certifications (collectively, the "Annual Filings") by the filing deadline of November 28, 2019. The Company subsequently provided bi-weekly default status reports on December 12, 2019, December 27, 2019 and January 10, 2020. The Company continues to anticipate that its interim financial statements for the three month period ended October 31, 2019, the accompanying management's discussion and analysis and the related CEO and CFO certifications will not be filed by the filing deadline, and will be filed after the Annual Filings are completed and filed.

As previously announced, the Corporation applied for and was granted management cease trade orders in respect of the delayed Annual Filings (the "MCTO") by the British Columbia Securities Commission and the Financial and Consumer Affairs Division of Saskatchewan which prohibit the chief financial officer and the chief executive officer from trading in the Corporation's securities for so long as there are filings that are outstanding under applicable securities laws. The MCTO does not affect the ability of the general investing public to trade in the Corporation's listed common shares.

The audit of the 2019 Annual Financial Statements is progress and the Corporation continues to expect to file the Annual Filings on or before January 29, 2019.

The Corporation confirms that since the Default Notice: (i) there is no material change to the information set out in the Default Notice that has not been generally disclosed; (ii) there has been no failure by the Corporation in fulfilling its stated intentions with respect to satisfying the provisions of the alternative information guidelines set out in NP 12-203; (iii) there has not been any other specified default by the Corporation under NP 12-203; and (iv) there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Corporation that has not been generally disclosed.

The Corporation will continue to comply with the provisions of the alternative information guidelines under NP 12-203 by issuing bi-weekly default status reports in the form of news releases for so long as it remains in default of the filing requirements set out above.